Tim Burton's Batman Triumphant
by Comp Ninja
Summary: Written as the concluding chapter of an imaginary trilogy that began in Batman and continued in Batman Returns, Tim Burton's Batman Triumphant tells the story of Catwoman's return, the rise of Scarecrow, a coin toss and the debut of a new vigilante.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or its characters.

Tim Burton's Batman Triumphant (1995)

Dramatis Personae

Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton)  
Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Gough)  
Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer)  
Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams)  
Rupert Thorne (Jon Polito)  
Jonathan Crane (Jeff Goldblum)  
Helena Thorne (Jennifer Jason Leigh)

_Martha Wayne Foundation Building_

Bruce Wayne had broken his promise to his parents twice in the last six years. He promised to rid Gotham of the evil that claimed their lives and twice he ended up a part of that evil. He broke his promise the first time when he let Jack Napier, his parents' murderer, fall to his death from the Gotham Cathedral. He then broke his promise a second time when he tricked Oswald Cobblepot into bombing his hideout with his own missiles.

While he did not actually kill them, he showed fragrant disregard for their lives that led to their deaths. A hero, especially a superhero, should live up to a higher standard. Questioning the morality of his mission made him vulnerable. It weakened his resolve while strengthening the confidence of even the lowliest street-level criminal.

Rupert Thorne had made a power grab for control of Gotham after Max Shreck's mysterious death three years ago. It failed but Batman had not managed to put him behind bars and Rupert didn't give up that easily. He reorganized. His tendrils spread out through the city, choking Gotham's newfound sense of hope. Three years later and Rupert had enough muscle and political power to put Carl Grissom's empire to shame.

Next week marked the third anniversary of the disappearance of Selina Kyle, last seen as Catwoman killing Max Shreck with an open mouth kiss from a taser gun. He had only a black cat, a few shapely shadows and her nine lives to suggest that she might have survive that horrific ordeal. Even in a life as strange as Bruce's, the odds did not look good for Selina Kyle, despite what rumors out of Rome might suggest to the contrary.

As a long-awaited treat for the good people of Gotham, Bruce Wayne appeared at the opening of the Martha Wayne Foundation, a luxury halfway house for the homeless and the victims of violent crimes. Tonight on this chilly December evening, Bruce would cut the ribbon on the dream of his mother decades in the making. If she had lived, she would have stood here today with her son to open the doors of recovery to the downtrodden.

"My parents died on these streets from the very disease my mother hoped to cure in this city. Tonight, I intend to fulfill her dying wish. I give you the Martha Wayne Foundation." A roaring applause arose from the crowd as a bad feeling came over Bruce. He remembered a time when a Christmas tree lighting ceremony ended in chaos.

The fact that Rupert Thorne attended the ribbon cutting to keep up appearances did not help Bruce's uneasy feeling about the next few minutes. "Yes, Bruce, I speak for all the Gothamites here when I hope what happened to you will never happen in this city again." That insincere bit of sentimentality won a thunderous applause from the audience. If only a two-faced gangster like Rupert Thorne knew the real cost of keeping such a promise.

District Attorney Harvey Dent, a black man with a passing resemblance to Billy Dee Williams, shook hands with Rupert Thorne, his teeth forever clinched behind his smile. Like the majority of Gotham's movers and shakers, Harvey knew the real business of philanthropist Rupert Thorne. He had spent the last six years of his career trying to build a case against him. Rupert had no record but commanded the underworld's heavy hitters.

Bruce admired his courage and determination but in Gotham only a detective seeped in shadows could bring such a dark and dangerous character to justice. Like Harvey, his own private investigation had yielded little into the way of hard evidence. The revolving doors still haunted the Gotham Police Department when it came to men like Rupert Thorne. Inspiring fear and silence defined the nature of the Thorne in everyone's side.

From the speakers came a grainy cackling voice. "Yes, Mr. Thorne, but who needs to inspire hope when I can inspire fear?" A bitter violent laughter echoed as a spray of brown gas escaped into the air. Bruce reached into his pocket. Beside security risks, he had brought his utility belt to the ribbon-cutting ceremony. He donned the mask as the vapors rose into the lungs of the audience. A moment of agonizing tension hung in the air.

Then all hell broke loose. The younger members of the audience screamed about monsters. The older members felt their hearts failing from fright. The rest screamed from imagined threats about them. "Gun!" a cop yelled as he prepared to fire on an infant son cradled in his mother's arms. A whip shot out and snapped the gun into the air. Bruce stood with an almost tangible fear clenching his throat and lungs as he watched Selina cough from the gas.

As she wobbled about on her two legs, Bruce rushed down to aid her. Harvey Dent stopped him with a .22 pistol. "Let's see if you live or die." Harvey spoke with a craggy uneven voice. He pulled out a silver two-headed coin and flipped it once. A bullet smashed into him. "It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy." Despite security risks, he had worn his Batsuit under his tuxedo, a decision that saved his life. Harvey had aimed for the heart, dead center.

The gas began to clear. Crawling hand over fist into the safety of the shadows, Bruce donned his mask and looked at his wrist computer. It would take too long for the Batmobile to drive here on its own. Wading into the crowd, Batman tripped a captain of industry as he prepared to beat his wife to death. He punched an older man in the gut as he threatened to grind his boot into his son's head. Whoever did this would pay dearly for it.

Batman looked up at the stage to see Harvey Dent pointing a gun at Rupert Thorne. Batman flung a Batarang at the gun. It struck on target, deflecting his aim slightly. The bullet still hit Rupert Thorne in the head. Rupert Thorne fell to the ground. Bruce Wayne wanted to help him but innocent people took precedence over crime lords. As much as it pained Bruce, he left Rupert to bleed to death as he waded further into the crowd.

From the night sky came a volley of arrows. Looking up for a sniper, Bruce caught only a glimpse of purple rushing about on the rooftops. Those struck grasped their hands in agony. Bruce would have to look into this new sharp shooter in Gotham but right now he needed to finish this task before someone actually managed to put a bullet in an unarmored portion of his body. Batman would not survive long in this murderously frightened crowd.

As he averted a number of near tragedies, he arrived at his target, Selina Kyle, lying face down among the panicked mob. The crowd had swallowed her and beat her within an inch of her life despite her training. She didn't have long to live. Selina looked up at him with terror in her eyes like she did not know the man behind the mask. Wasting no words, he grabbed her and piled her into the passenger seat of the Batmobile. Times like these reminded him how often the Batmobile saved lives.

"Home." The Batmobile sped off, expertly maneuvering around the people and their fear-stricken orgy of mayhem. Batman removed his mask. "Please, Selina, speak to me." Without mincing words, Selina raked Bruce across the face with her claws. Superficial wounds to say the least, they would nonetheless leave a mark for a couple days. Bruce held her back. She screamed. She lost consciousness from the sheer exertion of her screaming.

Not a moment too soon, he arrived in the Batcave, a place with medical facilities easily the rival of Gotham General Hospital. It also had a registered nurse and a man who easily qualify for an honorary degree in medicine, Alfred Pennyworth. "I saw the news. I had the table set." He looked that their patient. "Oh, my." Alfred had a gift for understatement. Alfred would have to keep her resuscitated long enough for Bruce to run an examination.

Alfred brought up the possibility of taking her to a real doctor. "They couldn't help her. Besides, after her performance three years ago, they'd have her arrested. Then the man would have her killed." Alfred said why he would do that. "Because, her blood at this stage might hold the key to stopping whatever chemical caused this." Bruce had dreamt of seeing Selina Kyle again someday but not like this. "Please, Selina, don't die."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or its characters.

Tim Burton's Batman Triumphant (1995)

Dramatis Personae

Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton)  
Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Gough)  
Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer)  
Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams)  
Rupert Thorne (Jon Polito)  
Jonathan Crane (Jeff Goldblum)  
Helena Thorne (Jennifer Jason Leigh)

_6 Years Ago_

Jonathan Crane, a panphobic, suffered constantly from his years of torture at the hands of a bitter hate-filled grandmother. He feared everything and nothing. He had feelings of dread he could neither name nor escape. If not for his growing dependance on daily doses of pilfered anti-psychotics, he would have ended up a patient at Arkham Asylum years ago. The drugs evened him out enough to function like the normal human being he wanted to be.

Each test subject gave him insight into the nature of fear. Their responses to his new drug taught him something new about the wondrous and familiar feeling of fear all the time. He had a simple goal: to invent a chemical cure to all irrational fears. In the same way one needed a sample of snake venom to create an antivenom, he would need healthy samples of fear to create its cure. To this end, Jonathan invented a drug to stimulate fear responses.

"Jon, I would like to have a word with you in my office." Jonathan's supervisor, a long-lost descendant of the man who founded Arkham Asylum, had it in for him. He had moved for his dismissal six times, each time failing to produce evidence to support his allegations of human experimentation. Jon did not fret his use of inmates. Most of them belonged in a prison anyways. They should not mingle with real patients requiring real treatment.

Mr. Arkham pushed a series of files in front of Jon. "I trust you know what these are." Jonathan Crane knew. He had gathered the evidence necessary to have him disbarred from practicing medicine and probably sent to Blackgate. "Destroy them if you wish. If I don't see your resignation on my desk first thing in the morning, I'll have a copy sent to the board. And don't bother stealing any drugs. I changed the locks already. Have a nice day."

Regardless of his panphobia, Jonathan Crane had never felt such fear before. Without his job, he could not support himself or his research. Without his diet of pills, his condition would worsen. No doctor would prescribe him the pills he needed so he prescribed himself. Already, he could feel the weight of his fear bearing down on his fragile mind. He needed help. So he went to the Gotham Cathedral seeking answers from a higher power.

As he arrived at the cathedral, a crowd had gathered in front. Jonathan caught a peek at the object of attention. The Joker, a freak who had promised to hand out free money during the 200th City Anniversity Parade, lied dead, a device in his pocket laughing incessantly. Looking at that corpse, Jonathan saw his own future, dead on the pavement, a freak lost in his own mind. Jonathan refused to let that happen to him. He began to formulate a plan.

The plan in his head required keys, the same kind of keys only Jeremy Arkham possessed. Back at the Cathedral Square, he beat a hobo to death and stole his clothes. Fear, such a powerful force, brought out the Scarecrow in him, a man without fear, a man who could teach the things Jonathan feared to fear him. As a finishing touch, he sliced holes into a burlap bag and wore it over his head. Jonathan Crane had died. The Scarecrow lived.

Filled with renewed strength, Scarecrow broke into Jeremy Arkham's fancy penthouse apartment. A mental hospital supervisor didn't make this much money. He must have had help. He looked through his records to find an interesting name. _Rupert Thorne._ When Mr. Arkham attacked him, he bludgeoned him with his own baseball bat. His wife and two daughters awoke. The Scarecrow decided to round all four bases with his Louisville Slugger.

As the bloodshed ended, the Scarecrow reached for the keys. His plan to develop his formula would take time, years even. Once he attained the necessary equipment, he would disappear for a while, perhaps leave Gotham for a spell. He would leave Gotham a pathetic half-mad freak wearing a mangled burlap bag over his head but he would return a full-blown God of Fear. And when that happened, even the mysterious Batman would fear the Scarecrow.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or its characters.

Tim Burton's Batman Triumphant (1995)

Dramatis Personae

Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton)  
Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Gough)  
Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer)  
Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams)  
Rupert Thorne (Jon Polito)  
Jonathan Crane (Jeff Goldblum)  
Helena Thorne (Jennifer Jason Leigh)

_Present_

Harvey Dent rested in his hospital bed. Face had taken over due to the stress caused by what the media already dubbed the fear toxin. When the antidote from Thorne Industries came in bulk to the Gotham General Hospital, Harvey swore that he would put that madman behind bars. He had learned to live to the horrific violence and crime that plagued Gotham on a daily basis but he drew the line with acts of domestic terrorism.

In the dark resided a shadow. When Harvey tried to move, the shadow moved in concert. From the safety the absence of light provided emerged Rupert Thorne, a man as large as life and as guilty as sin. "You tried to kill me. Me!" Harvey looked askance at Rupert. The thought had crossed his mind but he had never laid a finger on him. He wouldn't touch the man even to cave in his skull. He hated him that much. Face must have attacked him.

Rupert Thorne had a sewn-up gash across his head. "Do you recognize your handiwork? You nearly blew my head off with that rig of yours, you freak." Rupert reached for his pocket. Harvey went for the emergency button. Rupert Thorne had already taken care of that. "Don't bother calling. My men would have had your spine as a belt buckle if I wanted you dead. But a thought occurred to me. You'd have even more power as a martyr for your cause."

He produced a can of headache medicine and Harvey's lucky coin. "How about we flip for it?" He paced about Harvey with a sinister grin on his face. He rested the headache medicine on a table. "Heads, you live. Tails, you die." The coin rotated end over end in the air and came to rest in Rupert's palm. He slammed the coin into the back of his opposing forearm. He peeked under his palm. "Lucky man." He showed the results of the coin toss. "You live."

In a deft movement of his wrist, Rupert Thorne splashed the contents of the can into Harvey's face. Armed with quick reflexes, he had blocked half his face, sacrificing his hand in the process. Harvey screamed like someone had set him on fire. He had something other than headache medicine in that jar. "When that acid gets done with you, only a cynic would call what you have a face." Harvey thrashed upon his room, blindly attempting to attack him.

"So long, freak. Don't forget your lucky coin." Like he had done many times before, Rupert Thorne simply vanished without a trace. All the right people would lie for him. No one would have seen anything. Even the nurses who would treat Harvey Dent would not comment on the source of his disfiguring scars. Rupert Thorne practically owned this city and if he wanted to leave a man an acid-scarred freak, he had the prerogative to do so.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or its characters.

Tim Burton's Batman Triumphant (1995)

Dramatis Personae

Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton)  
Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Gough)  
Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer)  
Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams)  
Rupert Thorne (Jon Polito)  
Jonathan Crane (Jeff Goldblum)  
Helena Thorne (Jennifer Jason Leigh)

_Wayne Manor_

Selina Kyle did not have any lives left. The next time she faced the very real possibility of death, no amount of luck and circumstances could save her. Fortunately, she did not need any of her nine lives. An antidote from Thorne Industries arrived. Anyone could tell what this meant but no one could prove it. A deadly fear toxin filled the lungs of Gotham's elite and Rupert Thorne had the solution everyone needed. _Convenient._

Since Bruce Wayne had not inhaled the fear toxin, he did not need his dose. On the other hand, Selina Kyle hovered over death, the antidote barely reaching her in time. When she came around in a couple hours, Bruce and her would have to have a long talk about old times. She had started a lucrative career as a cat burglar in Rome. She had obviously not come back to Gotham for Bruce. _So why did she come back?_

As much as he wanted to brood his life away, he had detective work to do. While Rupert Thorne could have funded the gas attack, neither he nor Thorne Industries had any expertise, on or off the record, when it came to chemical weapons. Rupert must have hired outside help, someone gifted in chemistry and psychology.

Who? Research into chemical management of fear sent up red flags, eeriely familiar to something that happened six years ago. Jeremy Arkham, then administrator of Arkham Asylum, found dead with his wife and two daughters. Less than an hour later, a man posing as Jeremy Arkham gained access to sensitive chemical agents. A couple weeks later, a landlord reported an apartment owned by one Jonathan Crane emptied and deserted.

When he went through the records of Arkham Asylum for the last decade or so, he came upon a surprising name. _Harvey Dent._ Self-admitted, confidential files detailed hypnotherapy and the emergence of dissociate identity disorder in the form of Face, a homicidal alter ego Harvey reverted to in times of stress. It certainly explained his unusual behavior at the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Martha Wayne Foundation building.

During the last three years of attempting to nail Rupert Thorne for his criminal transgressions, Bruce had forged a friendship with Harvey Dent. As the world's greatest detective and best friend, he should have suspected something but he didn't, not even for a moment. If any other man had pulled a gun on him, he would have slammed him into the asphalt but he hesitated when he had seen his closest thing to a friend threatening his life.

Bruce had captured an arrow that did not hit anyone. A thorough analysis of the arrow would reveal something about its origins. The tests came back with traces of a Space Age plastic, a tough material with an extraordinary degree of tensile strength. Whoever did this knew their stuff but made a fatal mistake in their choice of arrow shafts. Only six companies in the world produced this stuff like this and only one had its headquarters in Gotham.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or its characters.

Tim Burton's Batman Triumphant (1995)

Dramatis Personae

Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton)  
Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Gough)  
Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer)  
Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams)  
Rupert Thorne (Jon Polito)  
Jonathan Crane (Jeff Goldblum)  
Helena Thorne (Jennifer Jason Leigh)

_3 Years Ago_

Jonathan Crane knew everyone's deepest fears. He made it a point to collect such sensitive data. It helped to know the exact effect his fear toxin would have on its victims before they literally died from fright. Rupert Thorne feared what all powerful men feared, betrayal by those closest to him and the inevitability of his own violent death.

Still, such fears would not keep a businessman from attempting to gain a foothold. The plan had a simplicity to it that spoke to either its genius or its folly. He would strike the wealthy elite with his fear toxin and Thorne Industries would provide the antidote. The resultant gratitude would serve to put many of them in the debt of Gotham's fastest-growing criminal empire. And Scarecrow would reap the benefits of an entire city ruled by fear.

Jeremy Arkham had the right idea acting in collusion with this man. He simply lacked the proper scope. Content with skimming his profits in exchange for bringing his thugs into his asylum, Jeremy Arkham did not realize the true potential of his power. Jonathan did and when the opportunity revealed itself he would not think twice to ally himself with Rupert Thorne, a man whose reign of terror rivaled even that of another well-known creature of the night.

Jonathan needed to take his time though. Rupert Thorne had one major obstacle in his rise to power, a robber baron by the name of Max Schreck. As soon as Jon found a way to get rid of him, he would go to Rupert and have his prototype fear toxin set for scale production. At this uncertain time, Rupert might sooner kill him than take him up on his offer. Knowing a man's fears gave Jon the ability to predict his actions with startling clarity because most men acted out of fear whether they knew it or not.

Now, Jon would go hunting for a bat. Oswald Cobblepot, a mayoral prospect supported by Max Schreck, had made enemies with Batman. Following him and the Red Triangle Gang would allow him to catch up with the Bat and study his every move. It did not take him long to find Batman after he destroyed Oswald's political career with a damaging tape recording played during a campaign speech. Oswald quickly reverted to his monstrous ways.

At the abandoned Gotham Zoo, a colossal conflict ensued involving gunplay and military-grade explosions, the kind of stuff that would have scared Jonathan Crane if not for his spiritual guide, the Scarecrow. There amidst the chaos, he learned the secret identity of Batman, bored billionaire playboy, Bruce Wayne. Such information meant that when Batman and the Scarecrow met, Jonathan Crane would have the psychological advantage.

"Soon, Mr. Wayne. Soon." The Scarecrow vanished into the darkness as he made his way to Thorne Industries. Now, he knew for a fact that Rupert Thorne would accept his offer. With Max Schreck electrocuted to death, nothing stood in the way of his total domination of the Gotham underworld. It might take a couple years to shake the Bat but eventually Rupert would prevail and Jon's fear toxin would receive its first public field test.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or its characters.

Tim Burton's Batman Triumphant (1995)

Dramatis Personae

Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton)  
Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Gough)  
Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer)  
Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams)  
Rupert Thorne (Jon Polito)  
Jonathan Crane (Jeff Goldblum)  
Helena Thorne (Jennifer Jason Leigh)

_Present_

Helena Thorne knew the secret business of her father. Then again, everyone knew the secret business of her father. He made no efforts to disguise the facts. Everyone knew what Rupert Thorne did with his time and money but he took pains to remove all tangible evidence of his crimes. He went so far as to send a couple employees on what many newspapers called the Gotham vacation, a one-way trip to the bottom of the river.

And what did that self-righteous creature of the night some call Batman do? He saved his life when Harvey Dent had a clean shot right through his head. While Helena could not quite bring herself to kill anyone just yet, it would only take time and more target practice to warm up to the thought of homicide. No daughter ever had a father who deserved to die more than Helena Thorne did. Gotham didn't need moral cancers like Rupert Thorne.

For years, Rupert Thorne had sent his daughter overseas to learn at the finest schools money could buy. During her travels, she learned a couple things one could not learn at boarding school. She mastered various modes of combat including ranged combat and hand-to-hand combat, armed and unarmed. When she returned, she'd have the skills she gathered via her father's money to hunt down everyone who worked for him. _Poetic justice._

During her time at boarding school, she had learned about Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt. Daughter of Zeus, she had brought order to the wild animals by exacting violent retribution for transgressions against the laws of civilization. She did a better job at running things than her father ever did. While her teachers did not appreciate her somewhat aschewed and violent take on Greek mythology, she knew the material better than anyone else.

Helena Thorne stood at the balcony of Thorne Industries, practicing her archery. If anyone else had shown her level of deadly aim with a ranged weapon, Rupert would have hired them as a henchman. But if Rupert Thorne had one redeeming quality, it came in his solemn promise not to mix family with business, a mistake that cost the original Mafia who ran Gotham control of their city. Rupert would not make the same mistake they did.

"Nice aim." From the shadows, Batman appeared. "I have seen it before." Obviously used to intimidating his foes, he did not expect to find a bolt from her crossbow rushing towards him. Moving with his legendary swiftness, Batman dodged until he had Helena's piece thrown over the edge. "Helena Thorne, I'll give you only one warning. Stay out of the way or else." As Helena looked for her crossbow, the Batman vanished into the night.

Helena produced a briefcase. Entering the combination, she revealed a purple costume and a crossbow that made her first two weapons look like slingshots. "Fat chance." Helena didn't begin this war. Her father did. And the Huntress would finish it, one way or another. No one, not even the sanctimonious Dark Knight, could stop her. She had only one purpose and pretty soon she would fulfill it by putting a bolt between Rupert Thorne's eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or its characters.

Tim Burton's Batman Triumphant (1995)

Dramatis Personae

Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton)  
Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Gough)  
Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer)  
Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams)  
Rupert Thorne (Jon Polito)  
Jonathan Crane (Jeff Goldblum)  
Helena Thorne (Jennifer Jason Leigh)

_Wayne Manor_

Selina Kyle regained consciousness, not certain she'd like what she saw when she came to. She awoke in the modern-day equivalent of a castle, the stately Wayne Manor, home to Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman. Knowing that, she quickly identified the man tending to her wounds, the ever polite and servile Alfred Pennyworth, a gentleman's gentleman if ever the phrase had any meaning at all. He smiled with a warm grandfatherly smile.

"You took in rather ill, Miss Kyle. Fortunately the antidote from Thorne Industries worked perfectly." Thorne. The name burned her blood. During her travels, she had learned about a half-sister she didn't know she had and a father who abandoned her mother shortly before her birth. Her mother, a loud-mouthed bore in many ways, never shared with Selina the details of her father, only that he had a lot of power and lived in Gotham. _Rupert Thorne._

More than Max Schreck did, Rupert Thorne owed her a life for the one he took away. All the years she spent wondering about her real father ended with her finding him in a mysognistic pig who ruled Gotham like a brutal dictatorship. As soon as she got her claws back, she would gut Rupert Thorne like a pig and feed him to the cats.

"What happened to Bruce?" Like she needed to ask. He had business to attend. Not the business everyone thought Bruce Wayne attended to. The business of saving Gotham from itself. The nightly ritual of flinging him headlong into danger and hoping the ones he loved would not have to read his obituary in the morning.

Alfred gestured to the news report on the television. A situation had developed at the Gotham Towers. On the 22nd floor of the West Tower, some maniac had taken hostages from Thorne Industries's top brass while they were closing an important business deal. He had already sent two suits crashing through windows to their deaths. She knew that Bruce would come for sure.

As she struggled to stand, Alfred grabbed hold of her shoulders. "Please, Miss Kyle, you have not regained your strength. You need to rest." Selina barely heard him. The thought of Bruce in danger made her ill. If anyone happened to him, Selina just could not live with herself. He could take care of himself but after she watched Max Schreck nearly blew his face off with a pistol, she had grown very protective of the Dark Knight.

Donning her mask, she went into the Batcave and borrowed Bruce's Batcycle. If she had any chance of saving Bruce's life, she would need the element of speed on her side. Though she did not know the location, the Batcycle's navigation system did. Selina and her ride would make excellent time to the Gotham Towers as long as Bruce had not already gotten himself killed. Such thoughts visited Selina in her worst nightmares.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or its characters.

Tim Burton's Batman Triumphant (1995)

Dramatis Personae

Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton)  
Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Gough)  
Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer)  
Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams)  
Rupert Thorne (Jon Polito)  
Jonathan Crane (Jeff Goldblum)  
Helena Thorne (Jennifer Jason Leigh)

_Gotham Towers_

"Let me tell you a story about a boy and his dog. This boy had a bully that always picked on him. The boy never fought back. He just let his rage boil under the surface until one day the bully did something truly evil. He took a big rock and crushed the dog. The boy blacked out. He must have attacked him because when he regained his senses, he had two bodies to bury. Do you know what happened to that boy?" No one answered. "Neither do I."

Bruce Wayne listened in horror as Harvey Dent, now calling himself Two-Face, prepared to decide a person's fate with the flip of a coin. "Tails. Mind the step, Miss Isley." As a red-haired secretary went flying through the broken window made by the first victim, Batman swung out his de-cel line and roped her in. The de-cel line brought her to a comfortable stop. He lowered her softly onto the sidewalk and made his way to the 22nd floor.

"What the hell happened?" Harvey screamed, the sound of craggy voice ringing in Batman's audio processors. He needed to act first. His flipping coin pointed to a volatile mercurial nature. Given enough provocation, he'd flip the coin to decide whether he should kill them all at once and not just one at a time. Harvey must have expected Rupert Thorne to be there. This situation could get bad. A flash grenade flew into the board meeting. Two-Face looked away at a critical moment as it went off at his feet.

As Batman charged in, a spray of gunfire connected with his body, sending him onto the floor in unspeakable pain. The time for amateurish stunts had come and gone. If he planned to survive, he would need to do better than this. "I should have known." Two-Face pointed his Thompson machine gun. "Always aim for the face." Releasing a smoke pellet, Batman vanished away as Two-Face peppered his trail with gunfire.

The bullets had done the Devil's work on his bones. He could feel a couple ribs broken and organs mashed. The fact that he could move spoke more to his stubborn nature than the effectiveness of his body armor. He stumbled into a broom closet, the pain too penetrating to realize he had made a poor choice of hiding spots. "Come out, Batman. The coin came up heads. I won't hurt you." Batman could tell by his voice that he came up tails.

"If you want to die cowering in a broom closet, be my guest." As Batman braced himself for another attack, the sound of a whip and gunfire filled his audio processors. Someone had came to his rescue. "The Cat and the Bat. I get to kill two animals with one gun." Shocked into movement, he bursted out of the broom closet.

Two-Face had flipped his coin as he had Catwoman in his sights. Batman caught the silver two-headed coin in mid-air. "Tails. You lose." Dishing out the most violent beating of his career, only Catwoman stopped him from doing the unthinkable. "Harvey Dent, I know some part of the real you resides in there but if Two-Face ever does this again, I'll have to bring in both of you. You understand?" Batman heard the police arriving. "Think about it."


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or its characters.

Tim Burton's Batman Triumphant (1995)

Dramatis Personae

Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton)  
Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Gough)  
Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer)  
Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams)  
Rupert Thorne (Jon Polito)  
Jonathan Crane (Jeff Goldblum)  
Helena Thorne (Jennifer Jason Leigh)

_Arkham Asylum_

"Poor bastard." Doctor Timothy Burton had seen a lot of inmates he felt sorry for. Many of them just needed the proper treatment. This guy had a different situation. The government could dump millions of dollars into therapy for this guy and it wouldn't make a difference. Harvey Dent had elevated himself above ordinary humanity. It made him extraordinary, yes, but also placed outside the reaches of conventional psychotherapy.

Looking at Harvey Dent reminded him of his protege, a young panphobic by the name of Jonathan Crane. He could work magic with inmates. He'd zero in on their fears and turn the psychological resources of the patient against his irrational fears. Only towards the end, around the time of his mysterious disappearance, did his obsession with fear take a dark and ugly turn. He started experimenting on inmates, exploiting their fragile minds.

As Doctor Burton prepared to end another day at the Arkham Asylum, a package came in the mail. The delivery truck looked real enough but the deliveryman seemed oddly familiar. A smart man, Doctor Burton would not have believed him capable of opening such a suspicious package. But like any truly awful car accident, he simply did not pay attention. All the intelligence in the world could not save a person from the consequences of their actions.

As he opened the lid, a spray of gas flew up his nose. It squeezed a couple coughs from his throat before it mutated his surroundings. Everything looked like Gothic claymation, the winding hallways of Arkham Asylum made even scarier. The deliveryman stripped off his uniform and put on a mask. The masked man grew into a hulking beast. "You created me, Doctor Burton. You created a monster. You created the Scarecrow."

The Scarecrow pressed the button on a remote in his hand. The doors of the maximum security wing flung open as half-awake inmates poured into the halls. "Please, Jon, for the love of God, don't do this." If these freaks got free, Gotham would burn down to the foundation. Doctor Burton grabbed hold of the Scarecrow. "Please, have mercy." The Scarecrow cast him away. As he continued to plead, a bullet ripped through Doctor Burton.

As he fell to his knees bleeding, Two-Face walked up to him and placed the gun in the back of his head. "Tails. You lose." As all senses and function left his brain in one fluid motion, Doctor Timothy Burton looked into the eyes of his star pupil. He could not spy anything in him resembling a human being anymore. Like Harvey Dent, Jonathan Crane had elevated himself above ordinary humanity to a place no one could reach him, not even his own mentor.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or its characters.

Tim Burton's Batman Triumphant (1995)

Dramatis Personae

Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton)  
Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Gough)  
Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer)  
Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams)  
Rupert Thorne (Jon Polito)  
Jonathan Crane (Jeff Goldblum)  
Helena Thorne (Jennifer Jason Leigh)

_Wayne Manor_

Born on June 1, 1940 in New York City, Doctor Timothy William Burton had a Ph.D in criminal psychology. His protege and former patient, Jonathan Crane, developed an obsession with curing his panphobia that bred rumors of human experimentation. His supervisor, Jeremy Arkham, failed to produce any evidence of before his death at the hands of a prowler in his penthouse apartment in Gotham Heights. Doctor Burton died last night from two gunshot wounds.

Bruce Wayne had pilfered a copy of the recording of the murder captured by a nearby surveillance camera. While Two-Face had pulled the trigger, someone had set him free in the first place. It showed someone dressed like Scarecrow, someone Doctor Burton identified by the name of Jon moments before his death. Bruce did not find this tape by happenstance. Jonathan Crane wanted him to see this. He wanted him to see his handiwork.

Jonathan Crane spoke into the camera. "I know you will see this. I know who really killed them." The cryptic statement spooked Bruce. Obviously, Jonathan Crane's graduate degree in psychology from Gotham University came in handy for messing with people's heads. In all likelihood, what he said meant nothing, just another obscure attempt to scare Batman. But something in Bruce's gut knew otherwise. Those words had a deeper meaning.

Using trace amounts of Thorne Industries' antidote to the fear toxin, Bruce had synthesized a single batch. Thorne Industries had a run in sales for the antidote. By this time next week, Thorne Industries stood to gain millions of dollars from domestic sales alone. He had a product everyone wanted. They paid through the nose to get it, either not knowing or not caring the true origin of the fear toxin that the antidote helped to cure.

A part of Bruce wanted to tear himself away from his bed and start bashing skulls until he got the answers he needed. But those bullets, though stopped by the best body armor money could buy, still hurt. Selina Kyle had to carry him to his Batmobile after the adrenaline caused by his injuries wore off. He didn't stand a chance against this rogues gallery in his condition. On top of that, he had a crime lord's daughter playing vigilante killer in Gotham.

As his mind drifted in and out, he returned to a strange place, a memory he had not visited in years, the funeral of his parents. The priest's words gave no comfort. He carried with him the red book, a journal his father had written in every day of his life. He remembered the last entry. "I would never tell Bruce this, but I don't want to go the theater tonight. I have surgery in the morning. I would have preferred we stayed home. I never could say no to him."

Now, he remembered why he repressed this memory. Jack Napier didn't kill his parents. Bruce did. He forced his father to change his plans. Had he not thrown a temper tantrum, they would have stayed home and enjoyed a quiet evening and many more to come. Perhaps in his quest to avenge their deaths, he sought on a subconscious level to punish his parents' real murderer, Bruce Wayne, a spoiled little brat wouldn't take no for an answer.

He could not avenge their deaths as Bruce Wayne. He could not avenge their deaths with so much guilt fermenting in the back of his mind. He raced into the rainy night in search of a persona. As he crashed through a hole, he found one, a monstrous and dark figure that would take away his guilt. It would turn him into a dark avenger who take away the grays of his life and paint his world in the only two colors he knew, black and white.

As Bruce awoke, Selina stood over him with a worried look in her eyes. "You shouldn't blame yourself for their deaths. You couldn't have known, Bruce." Bruce felt a sharp pang in his chest. "You talk in your sleep, Bruce. A nasty habit for a man with so many secrets." She lied next to him. "You really think punishing yourself for their deaths will make the pain go away?" He nodded weakly. "Nothing will make the pain go away."

Selina Kyle curled up against him like her feline namesake. "My mom only taught me one valuable lesson in all the years I knew her. She said, 'The only way out is through.' If you want your freedom from a life of nightly torment, you must face your fears. Go to them. Show them what you have become and beg their forgiveness." She kissed his forehead. "Every night, you face enemies who show you no mercy. Don't let yourself be one of them."


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or its characters.

Tim Burton's Batman Triumphant (1995)

Dramatis Personae

Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton)  
Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Gough)  
Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer)  
Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams)  
Rupert Thorne (Jon Polito)  
Jonathan Crane (Jeff Goldblum)  
Helena Thorne (Jennifer Jason Leigh)

_Thorne Industries Headquarters_

"So, tell me about this big secret you have kept hidden for three years." Helena Thorne listened in through a bug from an adjacent room. Her father always held special meetings in his office at Thorne Industries. He hardly noticed when Helena invited herself over. Nor did he suspect that she had the room bugged with a device planted in the vase where he kept his prize roses. "I believe you said it would change all my plans for the better."

The almost inhuman cackling voice shrieked in reply. "Yes, it will. You scarred one of your greatest enemies for one reason and one reason only." Helena cranked up the volume. "Because you knew where to find him. But do you know where to find Batman. I do. And I will tell you for a price." Rupert asked the obvious. "One, I want the pleasure of killing Batman. Two, tell no one. We own this secret. Agreed." Rupert accepted. "I wrote it on this piece of paper."

A sound of shock escaped from her overweight father. Despite what he looked like, it took a lot to spook or surprise her father. The name on the paper must have came out of left field. "I can prove it if you want. I have files of evidence to verify that name. Now, I trust you know a couple places where I can find this man." Helena needed to get a hold of that piece of paper. At that moment, the door to the room bursted open. "It appears we have a spy."

Rupert Thorne, shocked twice in one day, stared transfixed. "Helena! Why?" She answered his question with a crossbow bolt. She missed. She didn't have to miss. She aimed at the Scarecrow. In a violent jerking motion, he evaded the bolt and ran at her. She barely managed to smash her fist into his gut. Rupert's hired guns busted in. Helena dove out the door and down the hall. She had blown her cover. His father knew her secret now.

Helena Thorne stripped off her outer clothing and let her purple costume show. Her father knew her daughter as the only legitimate thing he ever accomplished with his life. He raised her like a princess, thinking that would make all his crooky dealings straight. He thought he did it for her but he did it for himself, a convenient way to ease his conscience and allow him to indulge the only thing he ever did well. Manipulating others to serve his own ends.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or its characters.

Tim Burton's Batman Triumphant (1995)

Dramatis Personae

Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton)  
Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Gough)  
Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer)  
Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams)  
Rupert Thorne (Jon Polito)  
Jonathan Crane (Jeff Goldblum)  
Helena Thorne (Jennifer Jason Leigh)

_Park Row_

Bruce Wayne arrived at the place where his parents died in full Batman regalia. It had two names. Park Row and Crime Alley. He visited this place many times but never as Batman. He felt ashamed to show his parents what their son had turned into. "Please, Mom, Dad, I want you to look at me. I want you to know something very important." He placed a couple roses on the exact spot where they died. "I wanted you to know that your deaths meant something. Everything I did, everything I strived to accomplish, I did for you two."

A beer bottle smashed into the side of his head. "You did it for yourself, Bruce Wayne." Eyes wide open, he turned to face Rupert Thorne and the Scarecrow. "Don't look so surprised. Anyone could have figured it out. You turned my own daughter against me, you self-righteous prick." The Scarecrow rolled something at Bruce. "How about a taste of your own medicine?" A smoke pellet exploded at Bruce's feet. "Enjoy the ride, freak."

Rupert stood over Batman. In the shadows, he transformed into his worst fear, a humanoid bat, a symbol of an unspoken guilt that dominated his life. "You want to know the truth, Bruce." The Man-Bat smashed him into the wall. "I killed your parents. Your mother nearly ran me out of business for my connections. You come from a whole family of self-righteous pricks." The Man-Bat shoved Batman onto the sidewalk. "I sent Jack Napier and Joe Chill to do the job. I told Joe we'd mug them just to scare them. I told Jack the real plan."

As he continued his brutal assault, Bruce struggled to pull himself together. But he had fears capable of crushing a lesser man. They paralyzed his muscles and left him weak. "I wish you guys had stayed home that night. Jack had this idea of disguising the murders as a home invasion. If we had done that, we would have killed you and your butler too." Rupert smiled. "As a man of vision though, I prefer to focus on the positive. I did manage to ruin your life."

Rupert Thorne propped Batman up against the wall. The fear toxin crippled Batman's reflexes as he could not bring himself to fight back. "Do you know what I hated most about your parents? People like them created the myth of Gotham. 'The shame of Western civilization,' they called it. I see nothing wrong with Gotham." Rupert put his foot in Bruce's face. "Where you see corruption, I see opportunity. Where you see crime, I see business. What do you say to that?"

Batman's eyes glazed over a bit. "I remember something my mother used to tell me. She must have been thinking of you when she said it. 'Never doubt that a small group of concerned citizens can change the world.' You know why, Mr. Thorne?" Batman punched the needle into his thigh. "She said, 'Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.' Don't believe me?" Batman bit back a grin. "See for yourself."

A whip shot out and tripped the Scarecrow. In moments, Selina Kyle had Jonathan Crane hog-tied with her own whip. Rupert watched the supervillain humiliated in a matter of seconds. Two-Face, having tracked him down, emerged from the shadows pointing a gun at Rupert's head. "See you in Hell, Rupert."

An arrow shot out from the corner of Bruce's eye. A moment of bated breath permeated the battle scene. Then, everyone stared at what happened. Helena Thorne had fired an arrow down the barrel of Two-Face's gun. Two-Face reached for a second gun, this time aiming at Helena. Batman took it out with a Batarang. Helena spoke clearly as she pointed her crossbow at Rupert Thorne. "I'd rather see him in jail."

Selina Kyle nodded in agreement. Bruce realized the truth. Selina had come back for Rupert Thorne. He might never learn the story behind that but he knew this for certain. As much as she wanted him dead, the thought of him making friends with the boys at Blackgate put the whole "letting him live" thing in perspective.

In moments, the police arrived at this spot as they did many years ago but this time they arrested the guilty party and put them away. "Excellent work, Batman," Jim Gordon said. "We'll take it from here." Jonathan Crane and Rupert Thorne could have told the police what they knew about Batman. But they knew that without Bruce Wayne in his life, Batman would vanish into the night without a trace. They only stood a chance at capturing him as long as his dual identity remained a secret one.

Batman had beaten his fears. And so had Gotham. The city celebrated Rupert Thorne's arrest like the end of some great war. The Commissioner even offered to deputize Batman, a dubious honor he graciously declined. Needless to say, Gothamites breathed a collective sigh of relief with Rupert Thorne behind bars.

Helena Thorne's private investigation completed chains of evidence begun by Harvey Dent, Batman and Martha Wayne. It confirmed what everyone had already known. Rupert Thorne was half the city bought and paid for. Thanks to Helena, they had the receipt. His own daughter had dismantled his criminal empire.

Pretty much anyone who had ever shaken hands with him would have to answer to criminal charges. The public defeat of a man once thought untouchable shook the underworld. Powerful people now understood that sense of powerlessness that gripped Bruce Wayne the night his parents died.

Rupert's gloating had robbed Bruce of his guilt. All of his life, he had believed deep down that he had led his parents to Crime Alley like lambs to a slaughter. An innocent child believed that he could have saved them, his sense of responsibility twisted into a sense of guilt so overpowering his conscious mind blocked it out. He knew now. His parents would have died no matter where they went that night.

Catwoman left that night on a red-eye flight back to Rome. No maudlin partings. No bittersweet goodbyes. Her heart probably could not take one of those. As for Helena Thorne, she vanished into the night without a trace. She obviously had more work to do elsewhere. Gotham was just a city after all. The world had many cities, some almost as bad.

Though possibly a side-effect of the antidote, Bruce could swear he saw his parents, smiling at their only son. Something unspoken passed between them. Pride. He avenged his parents' deaths by delivering their killer to justice. Tears flown from his eyes as he stood there on Christmas Eve in his Batsuit. He had begun a mission to rid Gotham of evil. He had every intention of finishing it. The Bat Symbol graced the skies. Let's get to work.

**The End**


End file.
